Trade Liberalization and Internal Migration in a Developing Country

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K01478
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07040:Economic policy-related
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Saito Hisamitsu 北海道大学, 公共政策学連携研究部, 教授 (30540984)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 経済のグローバル化 / 労働移動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines how trade liberalization affects domestic labor migration in Indonesia, focusing on the skills of workers. Using individual household data from Indonesia, a discrete choice model was estimated to analyze workers' selection of migration destinations based on regional characteristics. The results indicate that workers are more likely to choose regions where industries that intensively use intermediate goods, whose tariffs have been significantly reduced, are concentrated. The increase in imports of intermediate goods raises the demand for skilled labor needed to handle these goods, making such regions more attractive to highly skilled workers. However, the high costs of interregional migration suggest that the impact of trade liberalization on intermediate goods primarily promotes migration between neighboring regions.

Free Research Field

地域経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年，国際的な工程間分業が進展し，中間財貿易の重要性が高まっているものの，中間財への関税削減により発展途上国内の労働移動がどのような影響を受けるのかについて分析した研究は少ない．本研究は，中間財への関税削減が熟練労働力の地域間移動を促すことを明らかにしたもので，その学術的新規性は高い．さらに，現時点では地域間の移動費用が高く十分な労働移動が起きていないことから，その費用を削減し地域間移動を促進することが，貿易自由化による経済的便益を特定の地域に集中させることなく，国内各地域に再配分する上で有効であるという政策提言は社会的に重要なものである．